The telephone and the Personal Computer (PC) are among the most frequently used business machines. A great deal of effort has been invested in making the use of each more efficient. For example, the completion of telephone calls has been facilitated using features such as speed dial, redial and voice-activated dialling. Automated call handling applications have also been developed for use on multi-media PCs, but while a phone line is used for telephony it cannot be concurrently used for on-line functions such as data communications.
To date, efforts directed to improving the efficiency of using telephones have concentrated on making smarter telephones or smarter Private Branch Exchanges (PBXs) to enhance calling features, or combining telephones and personal computers for the same purpose. Both approaches have their drawbacks. Converting a telephone into a computing machine, or a computing machine into a part-time telephone are not the most practical uses of resources. A more economical and versatile approach is to leverage the inherent capabilities of each machine.
While modern telecommunications facilities such as the Internet provide a means for enabling a pooling of resources in order to leverage the capabilities of unrelated machines, the potential for such uses are only now beginning to be realized. For example, it would be advantageous to be able to automatically call the sender of an electronic mail message or a word processing document. However, in order to complete such calls at this time, it may be necessary to locate a record for the individual in a directory or the like using available information. After the telephone number is located, it must be dialled to place a call to the party. Typically, the number must be manually dialled. Although equipment to support enhanced computer telephony integration using a single telephone line exists in the form of Digital Simultaneous Voice and Data (DSVD) modems, this solution is presently costly and not broadly supported.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide a means for completing telephone calls using information retrieved automatically from a source independent of the telephone such as a computing machine.